Talk Shows’ Celebrity Bookings Wither

When CBS’ “Early Show” tries to schedule a celebrity appearance these days, the star’s publicist inevitably asks: “What or who else is going to be on the show?”

“Nobody wants to come on if they’re going to stick out like a sore thumb,” says senior executive producer Steve Friedman, who has lately been focused more on bioterrorism and bombing than on celebrity bookings.

The weeks since Sept. 11 have been unusual times for TV programs that, before the terrorist attacks, thrived on celebrity appearances. There are fewer celebrities to schedule, but that may be just as well, because there is less interest in putting them on the air. That’s causing problems for networks and studios that need publicity to launch shows and movies.

Names are hard to come by, but some networks and studios say they are failing to persuade their stars to travel to the East Coast to promote projects, and anthrax scares have also taken their toll.

“There are definitely fewer big celebrities in New York these days,” says Bill Geddie, executive producer of ABC’s daytime show “The View.”

“A lot of actors are very, very nervous about coming to New York and doing press,” UPN President Dean Valentine said at a recent International Radio and Television Society lunch in New York for which he arrived on a private jet. “It’s been a problem for us.” ABC has had to “scramble,” agreed ABC Entertainment Television Group co-Chairman Stu Bloomberg, who came on the same jet.

One prominent talent manager says clients are not inclined to put distance between themselves and their families right now. “The concern is more about not being able to get back to their families in a time of need, as opposed to feelings about their own safety,” said Michael Rotenberg, a partner in 3 Arts Entertainment, whose clients include Chris Rock and Cuba Gooding Jr.

Both “The Early Show” and ABC’s “Good Morning America” say they are interviewing more people via satellite from the West Coast, but other guests have just vanished. CBS’ “The Late Show With David Letterman” lost several bookings after an assistant to NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw contracted anthrax. After hosting “Saturday Night Live” that weekend, in the same building as NBC News, Drew Barrymore canceled her appearance on the Letterman show, as did actress Heather Graham, said a spokesperson for Worldwide Pants Inc., the studio that produces “The Late Show.”

They aren’t the only celebrities who have suddenly made themselves unavailable or less apt to take a movie role, much less hop on a plane for publicity. Though the climate is said to be getting less fearful, it was still in evidence Sunday when nearly a third of the 27 winners of Emmy awards were not on hand to accept them.

Those who can afford to fly on private jets--or are big enough stars to have a studio provide one--are availing themselves of the privilege. Some trips sound like celebrity ride shares. Jason Alexander, for one, took a private plane supplied by Walt Disney Co. to do New York promotion for his new ABC sitcom “Bob Patterson”; the publicity didn’t help as the show was just canceled. Also on the flight was Steven Webber, a co-star on the ABC drama “Once and Again.” Disney owns ABC.

And when other executives got wind of Valentine’s plan to take a private jet two weeks ago when he came to New York, they figured they’d get rides too; both Bloomberg and Fox Entertainment President Gail Berman chipped in money for the flight. A UPN spokesperson said Valentine got the jet for personal reasons; an ABC spokesman hastened to add that Bloomberg flew back to Los Angeles on a commercial plane.

But not all entertainers enjoy such access, and network officials are learning to respect their wishes. Fox’s fall lineup of shows is only now starting to premiere, after the network’s coverage of the World Series. “We had some talent who we wanted to fly [to do promotion], but they didn’t,” said Joe Earley, a Fox spokesman. “We had to respect their feelings.”

On the flip side, not all TV shows are bemoaning the absence of stars, because they are more interested in stories about the ongoing attack aftermath, anyway. Gone are the four-part series that build anticipation in the week prior to the launch of a hot new movie. Lawrence, Kan.-based NewsTV Corp. tracked ABC, CBS and NBC morning show coverage in October and found that of 1,192 segments, just 30 were devoted to new movies. “We genuinely have more than two hours of hard news stories we could pack into the newscast,” says Shelley Ross, executive producer of “Good Morning America.”

The morning show plugs for new series that used to be a given also evaporated this season. CBS’ “Early Show” has carried its usual day-after interviews with the booted contestants from the network’s prime-time “Survivor: Africa,” but just two new CBS fall shows, including “The Education of Max Bickford,” which is filmed in New York, have gotten what would in a normal year be a de rigueur interview spot, Friedman says, adding “The biggest thing that didn’t happen was the unveiling of the fall season.”

Syndicated shows “Access Hollywood,” “Entertainment Tonight,” “Extra” and “Inside Edition” picked up some of the slack, says NewsTV Corp., which found that 210 segments of a total 977 in October were devoted to television, and an almost equal number to other celebrities. But another 183 segments dealt with the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks, and 65 segments were about anthrax slots that would have in the past gone to stars and shows.

As a result, network executives have complained that awareness of new shows is way down, and that may have meant fewer viewers. A CBS analysis of Nielsen ratings data shows that the 35 new shows that have premiered on the six broadcast networks have drawn an average 8.37 million viewers, down 8% from an average 9.1 million viewers for the 33 new shows last season.

But the lack of celebrities hasn’t necessarily hurt shows where they used to hold forth. Ratings for “The View” are up, theorizes Geddie, because “this is a time when people are interested in a live show that is reflecting how the country feels.”

The beneficiaries of the turnaround have been TV news correspondents. ABC News publicist Todd Polkes has gotten more than one call at the last minute from a panicked booker looking for someone to fill a guest spot. The result is that John Miller, a correspondent who three years ago interviewed Osama bin Laden, has been a guest on both Letterman’s show and Comedy Central’s “Daily Show,” neither of which he had appeared on before. And he’s been on ABC’s “The View” and CNN’s “Larry King Live” twice each. Colleague Brian Ross has been on Charlie Rose’s PBS talk show three times since Sept. 11, as well as “The View.” CBS’ Lesley Stahl was on “Access Hollywood”; her colleague Steve Kroft appeared on “Entertainment Tonight.”

But news stars can be called out on assignment at any time. ABC’s George Stephanopoulos had to cancel on the “Daily Show” twice (he’s theoretically rescheduled for tonight).